Columnist Matthew Tully argues that Republican Senate candidate Todd Rokita is taking political cynicism to a whole new level.

Politics is politics, and a hearty dose of baloney will accompany every campaign. You know how it is: Candidates offer flattering portrayals of themselves and rely on market-tested slogans and campaign ads filled with syrupy themes despite being funded by big-money special interests.

Hey, that’s politics.

But U.S. Rep. Todd Rokita is taking things to a new level this summer, peddling a package of baloney so oversized he must have bought it at Costco. And while far too many campaigns to count have been driven by cynicism and a belief that voters are an uninformed collection of schmucks, Rokita has found a way to top just about everyone else.

For background, Rokita has been in the U.S. House for four terms. He’s collected paychecks as an elected politician for 15 years and seems to be willing to run for just about anything. Since 2002, he’s run successfully for secretary of state twice and Congress four times. He campaigned unsuccessfully for governor once and now, as of this week, he is officially running for the U.S. Senate.

His new message, delivered in a campaign ad filled with clichés and cheap shots, is almost laughable in its hypocrisy and willingness to say just about anything to get elected. It is titled “Defeat the elite,” which also seems to be Rokita’s new campaign slogan. (Forgive me for considering an incumbent member of Congress to be a member of the Washington elite.)

The two-minute video has everything you’d expect. Slow-motion footage of the Republican congressman walking through factories and laughing with voters; lots of American flags; gloomy, horror-movie music when other politicians are mentioned; vague references to policies he supports; the mandatory dig at Hillary Clinton and “illegals;” and, finally, suggestions that he has achieved big things in Congress, despite a record that suggests otherwise.

It might sound like politics as usual, and in some ways it is. But some of the messages in Rokita’s commercial are so cynical and misleading that it seems wrong to let them stand.

Let’s go through the more eyebrow-raising bits in the opening Senate pitch from one of the most partisan politicians I’ve ever covered.

* Rokita’s ad opens with a sleight of hand — a kind of a don’t-look-at-the-man-behind-the-curtain moment — as it takes a hard swipe at all of those dreadful politicians in Washington, D.C. If you visit the nation’s capital today, the narrator says over some of the scariest music you’ll ever hear, you’ll see that “something’s wrong.” D.C. is filled with politicians who “look out for themselves and look down on us.”

Now do I really have to remind you that Rokita has served in the House majority in Washington for seven years? And unlike his main primary opponent, Luke Messer, or incumbent Democratic Sen. Joe Donnelly, Rokita has not done anything to tone down the nasty partisanship plaguing Washington. Of the three, Rokita has contributed most to the toxic nature of partisan politics in Washington.

Something is indeed wrong in Washington, and Rokita has played a big part in it.

* Rokita shows a uniquely cynical side by telling viewers that he supports term limits for “career politicians.” As my 6-year-old would say: OMG!

Again, let’s look at the record. Rokita, 47, spent eight years on the government payroll as Indiana’s secretary of state and by the end of his current House term next year he will have spent another eight years on the federal payroll. If his Senate campaign succeeds, that’s at least another six years.

Quiz: What does all of that add up to? Answer: A career politician.

* Rokita’s ad touts as one of his big successes his votes to kill Obamacare. I guess he thinks he can ride GOP animosity toward the law through one more primary election cycle, even though his party, while controlling everything in Washington, has failed to do anything about it.

* Rokita says Donnelly “is with them, not us.” He portrays Donnelly as a creature of D.C. and a pawn of special interests. This from a candidate who recently boasted about the millions he’s raised of late, gobs of it from special interests.

The ad ends with a kicker that is as simple as it is full of baloney: “Change Washington,” it says. “Defeat the elite.”

There are a lot of ways to change Washington and defeat the elite. But electing Rokita, a classic example of a career politician and a card-carrying member of the political elite, isn’t one of them.

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